After 27 years in his home in the Saint-Michel district of Montreal, Mario Lortie was the victim of eviction and had to leave the premises on 1er July, when he had not found a new home.
This situation causes a lot of anxiety for the 62-year-old man, even though he is supported by the City of Montreal’s emergency assistance service.
“My morale is not going well,” he said, as he received The Press in his apartment cluttered with boxes. “Sometimes I hold my head in my hands because I’m so discouraged. It keeps me from sleeping when I think about what awaits me. »
What awaits him immediately is a room in a downtown hotel and storage space for his belongings, offered by the emergency program of the Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal. (OMHM).
Unsuccessful call
But a few months ago, Mr. Lortie feared being left to his own devices and becoming homeless: during his first call to the OMHM, last March, he was told that nothing could be done for him.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Mario Lortie will have to leave the apartment he has lived in for 27 years on 1er July
I saw myself on the street, I told myself that I was going to sleep in the metro. It’s a very distressing time.
Mario Lortie
Mario Lortie has been living on welfare since health problems forced him to quit his job as a social worker. The monthly rent for his four and a half is $535.
Eviction
His troubles began when the duplex, where he occupies the second floor, was sold in 2022. The new owner told him he wanted to transform the building into a single-family home. Such transformations are now prohibited in some boroughs, but in Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension, they are permitted if the total area of the new dwelling does not exceed 200 square metres.
In 2023, the owner sent him an eviction notice, stating that he wanted to carry out expansion work. However, his project did not include expanding the building. Mr. Lortie contested the notice before the Administrative Housing Tribunal (TAL) and won his case.
It saved me a year. The landlord offered me $10,000 to move out, but I refused. I saw that the rents on the market were double what I was paying.
Mario Lortie
Its owner returned to the charge this year; he sent him a notice to repossess his accommodation, indicating that he wanted to live there himself. This time, the tenant lost before the TAL, simply obtaining compensation of $2,500 for his moving costs.
Housing Committee to the Rescue
After his first unsuccessful call to the OMHM, Mario Lortie contacted several housing committees to try to get help, since he could not find new affordable housing despite his searches. It was the Citizens’ Action Committee of Verdun (CACV) which intervened to give him access to emergency aid from the OMHM.
After analyzing his file, he was even told that he was eligible for a place in HLM.
The waiting list for social housing is long, however. “But since I am experiencing eviction, my case is becoming more urgent and I may have a chance of getting a place more quickly,” says Mr. Lortie. “The housing committee stepped in to assert my situation, they really supported me. It was lucky that I knew a little about community organizations, someone else might have given up and ended up on the street.”
If an HLM apartment is offered to him, the tenant has no choice in accepting it, even if it is on the other side of the city, even if it is a simple studio, this which worries him too.
“Our Prime Minister, François Legault, does not seem aware of the crisis. He does not live on the same planet as us, concludes Mario Lortie. If he were in my shoes, he would see that things are not like they used to be and that housing prices are exorbitant. »
Nearly 2,700 households still without a roof over their heads
Across Quebec, 2,681 households, supported by around forty housing search assistance services (SARL), have still not found permanent housing. SARLs have processed 8,975 household requests since 1er January 2024, indicates the Société d’habitation du Québec (SHQ). There are 98 households relocated to hotels and 241 relocated with a relative or friend. It is for these households that the support of SARLs is the most intense, “to help them find a lasting solution to their situation, as soon as possible,” indicates the communications department of the SHQ. Last April, Québec announced funding of $7.8 million to help housing offices and municipalities support households in need due to the housing crisis. Tenants needing help can contact the SHQ’s Customer Relations Centre at 1 800 463-4315. It will be open 7 days a week from June 15 to July 14, including July 1er July.